A Second Chance
by Kissme007
Summary: They had no-one else to count on, no one else to depend on. They only had each other and that is how they came to love one another. A story about second chances in love and life.


**Disclaimer:** All the recognisable characters are owned by J.K.R. No money is being from this story. I only own the Plot.

A/N : I had a sudden inspiration so I had to type it out. Harry and Hermione hold a special place in my heart. I hope you all like it.

Please read and review.

 **A/N (Edited) -** The story has been slightly edited. Thanks to the reviewers - Kai and Philosophize, I noticed one huge mistake in the story. For reason, I typed Grindlewald instead of Voldemort during the scene with Dumbledore. Don't know how that escaped me. It's been corrected now. Please read the note below for further details. Thank you.

* * *

"Hey, you alright?"

Hermione looked at her best friend who was staring worriedly at her. They were camping just outside Hogwarts. She knew it was killing him to stay here and not go inside. She didn't want to worry him further but she couldn't help it.

 _Sirius ..._

He was inside. Living, healthy and very much not the man she fell in love with. It was taking every bit of her will power to stop herself from going inside and stopping what will happen. It was a fixed point. She wasn't to change it. That's what Dumbledore had stressed upon before ... before he died. But it was so _hard._

"-mione. Hermione!"

She jolted as Harry's voice penetrated her muddled thoughts.

"Hey, I'm here. You know I would do anything to help you."

Hermione looked at her friend's green eyes. They looked so serious. When did he turn into this mature, dependable man she could trust and tell anything. They had both changed. Ever since Ron had left. She had waited, but he never came back. Ron's abandonment had changed both of them. Harry had grown out of his sulky phase and actually thought before he acted. He listened and did his best to learn all he could from her. She had even caught him reading her books. Yes, they had both grown in the forest where their third part left, where they faced the reality of war, where they realised they only had each other to count on. No one was left. She thought back about how it happened. How they came to be here …

 ** _Flashback_**

Harry and Hermione were sitting in a tent. Hermione was lost in her thoughts. She had been doing that a lot ever since Ron had left them. Mostly, she was thinking about Harry.

They had grown closer - closer than ever before. She had learned things about Harry she didn't even know. She thought she knew everything about her best friend but he had proved her wrong. For the first time he had let his guard down - completely. She was blown away by how much he hid behind his masks. They all had things to hide but Harry, he had the most. They had comforted each other.

Hermione had cried when Harry told her about growing up with the Dursleys. she had held him tightly when he told her how he had almost died when he was only seven. A child, beaten by the only people who were supposed to take care him. They taught him that nothing could be taken for granted. She was fiercely glad they couldn't do anything more to him. She cursed Dumbledore for sending him back there - again and again.

After, they lay on the bed, holding each other. She could feel him stroking her hair. She closed her eyes as she felt her throat tighten from remembering another hand doing the same, just rougher. How his hands felt, how he played with her hair before gently swiping them aside and kissing her neck. How he held her when he made love to her. How tightly he held her after. A tear slipped before she could help it. Another slipped and soon she was crying, hiccuping while clutching Harry's shirt. The tears wouldn't stop. It was too painful to remember.

"Hermione ..."

She shook her head, her throat closed up as she tried to come up with words to explain but she couldn't do it. She couldn't come up with any more excuses and so she let it all out. How she fell in love with a man who was never really meant for this time. How his past still haunted him and how she was his only escape from reality. How they both used each other but still loved each other with all they had. How Sirius Black had helped her become the woman she was. Harry held her through it all. He never let her go as she explained how she fell in love with his godfather. He was too old for her, she knew. But they couldn't help it. They were drawn to each other like moth to flame.

Sirius was her first love, the first man she let herself go. He taught her what it was like to let go but still hold on. A part of her had died when he died. It was hard to go on without missing him, without aching to touch him, knowing that she would never be able to see his smile again, hear his gruff voice tell her how much he loved her. Harry stayed quiet as she told him everything. It felt good to tell someone finally. She was too tired. To be the only one to know was slowly killing her.

Once it was over, she couldn't look at him. She was afraid what she would see if she turned to look at his face. She resisted when Harry gently turned her chin around.

"Hermione, look at me."

She raised her eyes at his gentle voice. There was no censure, no anger, no pity. Only acceptance.

"You know I would never judge you for whatever you do. You're the only one who stayed by my side through everything. You're my best friend and I would do _anything_ for you."

Hermione cried at his fierce words. It was too much. With a sob, she dove into his arms and clutched his shoulders.

"Harry ... oh Harry ..."

"Yeah love, I'm right here. Shh ... It's alright."

She quieted as he comforted her.

His words had given her a new strength. She knew what she had to do. She had been postponing telling Harry about it. She didn't even want to think about it but she supposed it was time now.

While Harry had his own mission from the previous headmaster, she was given an altogether different task. Dumbledore had left enough clues for her to figure out what her mission was. She hadn't told Harry but it was time.

"Harry ... do you remember when Dumbledore gave me a blank book during the beginning of out sixth year?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, as you might have guessed, it wasn't a blank book. It was a diary. A diary of Ariana Dumbledore."

Hermione paused as Harry's brows furrowed in confusion. She forgot that she hadn't told him who Arianna was.

"Ariana was Dumbledore's sister. She died long before we met him. The thing is, everyone thought she died during the fight between Dumbledore and Gindlewald but that's not actually true."

Harry was focusing now completely on what she was saying.

"You see, she was a seer. A seer who was too powerful. Not only could she see the future but she could also see the past. Her powers grew and with them she gained some terrifying abilities. She could travel wherever she wished, across different times. She was a living, breathing and more advanced version of a time turner." Hermione continued.

"But nobody knew how much it took from her to travel through time. She couldn't change anything because nobody could see or touch her whenever she travelled. She was only an observer. Dumbledore realised what it was doing to her. It was killing her. With every journey through time, her magic depleted along with her life energy. Nobody can mess with time and not pay the price. She could see time so time took her life."

"She knew she didn't have long so she wrote a diary. She was a very smart witch and knew it wasn't the end of her. She had potential to grow so she researched and studied everything about time travel and came up with some theories. Ironically enough, she ran out of time before she could actually prove any of them true."

"Before dying, she made sure to protect her diary and gave Dumbledore some very specific instructions."

Hermione drew a breath as she paused. Harry was giving her a look that said he knew where this was going. Sometimes he was eerily perceptive.

"Yes, Ariana asked Dumbledore to give it to me. Funny, isn't it? I hated divination so much but turns out, I have some latent abilities. At first, I didn't want anything to do with it but I realised the significance of it and how it could help us. So I studied it and I think I've finally come up with something that might help us."

She paused again, gathering her thoughts. Harry was being surprisingly patient , not even asking any questions. Well, this was it.

"You see, one of her theories talked about going into the past, but not as an observer. If we could erase ourselves from one timeline, then we could potentially become tangible in another. I'm not going to go into details but basically, we can travel through the past but our existence would be completely erased in this timeline. It has an eighty percent success rate. If we failed, we would be stuck in between time lines and we would die. No body would remember us but if we succeeded, then we could change it all."

"I know it's not an easy dec-"

"Let's do it."

Hermione looked at Harry, startled.

"Harry! Are you sure? Think about it. We can only do it once and if anything goes wrong, we can die or even worse."

"It's okay Hermione. Even you know we're not going to win this war. Everyone is dead and Voldemort has hidden his horcruxes again after realising what we were after. What is left to do for us here? I can't lose you too Hermione. You're the only thing now-" Harry paused and gritted his teeth. He clenched his hands and said seriously, "I'm not letting you killed here."

Hermione breathed.

"What if it doesn't work?"

Harry smiled and held her hands. His hands were warm and calloused. They held her reassuringly and gave her the confidence she needed.

"It will."

Hermione nodded, looking at Harry's determined gaze. Yes, they would make it work.

* * *

It was ready. Their way to the past was ready and Hermione was hyperventilating.

"Hermione! It's okay. You've checked the calculations multiple times. Nothing will go wrong."

Hermione nodded. Yes, she had done her best to make sure there were no errors. They were finally doing it. It had taken them months to figure everything out. Turns out, Harry's magic was the key. And so, now they were ready. How they had hidden from Voldemort for this long, Hermione didn't know but she was glad they weren't caught.

They held each other as Hermione started the process of sending them back.

"You ready?" She asked Harry.

"Let's do it." harry suddenly grinned at her and hugged her tightly.

The air sizzled and spiked as they made their way to the past. She could feel the waves of time touching them curiously. So far, it was going according the plan. After what seemed like hours but was actually barely a minute, they stopped.

Hermione looked around as Harry released her. They were here. She recognised the forest. They had done it.

She looked at Harry who was smiling at her. They both were excited at being alive. There was hope again. This time, they wouldn't fail.

 ** _End of Flashback._**

"Are you sure, you don't want to go there?" Harry asked.

Hermione didn't but she didn't really have a choice anymore.

They had camped right outside Hogwarts wards, in the forbidden forest. They had been here for a few weeks. At first, they had been scared of staying there. It was after all the forbidden forest but so far, nothing had bothered them. Slowly they had let their guard down.

Harry had known where the Horcruxes were before Voldemort had gotten suspicious and hid them in different places. His connection to Voldemort had helped him figure out the hiding places but Voldemort had even blocked that. But now they knew. They had already destroyed all but one. Ravenclaw's Diadem. They had been avoiding going back to the castle for several reasons. Hermione because she couldn't face the young Sirius and Harry ... Well, it was quite obvious.

"You ready?" Harry asked her gently.

Hermione nodded. She was glad Harry was there for her. He had become her strength over the months. He was so much more than her best friend.

"Let's go." Hermione said, gripping her wand tightly.

They walked along the edge of Hogwarts wards. Harry forced his hand through the ward. It would alert Dumbledore and that was all they needed.

It happened like they predicted. Dumbledore soon appeared before them. His expression forbidding.

"Who are you? How did you come here? Explain yourselves!"

They told him the story they had perfected over the last few weeks. They were running from Voldemort. They had been close to being captured when they had suddenly apparated to the forest. They didn't know where they were so they continued to walk and soon found the castle.

Dumbledore didn't seem to believe their story entirely but he couldn't find anything suspicious on them and grudgingly let them through the castle. They didn't have the dark mark and their appearance was altered to evoke his sympathy. The Dumbledore they knew had always believed in giving everyone a second chance. Hermione was glad their plan had worked.

They gripped each other tightly as they followed Dumbledore through the silent castle. It was night time so all the students were in their dorms.

They discussed a few more details in his office before he let them go with a warning to not do anything suspicious and to be careful.

"That went better than I had hoped." Harry grinned at her.

Dumbledore had allowed them the use of an abandoned suite room that belonged to one of the teachers. Conveniently enough, it was on the seventh floor, in the right corridor. Their destination was on the left one but it was still very close.

They unpacked what little they had and went to bed. Both were too tired to do anything more. There was always the next day to save the world.

* * *

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" Hermione shook her friend awake. It was breakfast time and all the students would be in the great hall so it was the perfect time to go to the Room of Requirement.

"Hermione ..." Harry yawned as he found his glasses and put them on. He needed a few seconds to clear the cobwebs in his brain before nodding to Hermione and donning on his shirt.

Hermione turned around as he changed.

After freshening up, they made their way to the left corridor. The room had a hidden entrance opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet. They walked past the tapestry three times and thought about the diadem. Soon, a door opened and both quickly walked in, not noticing a few pairs of eyes following their entry curiously.

The room they entered looked like a storage room. It was vastly disorganised.

"It's going to take a long time to find anything in this mess." Harry remarked as he started to look around for the last horcrux.

Hermione nodded.

After two hours and still one horcrux short, they were both impatient.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Harry frowned before stopping.

"I have an idea." He said suddenly.

He took out his wand and muttered something. Soon an object came zipping through the far end of the room. Before Harry could catch it, Hermione dove and tackled him to the ground.

"No! You can't touch it!" Hermione shouted.

"Yeah, sorry." Harry smiled sheepishly.

They were both lying on top of each other. Harry was holding her lightly and smiling at her. His glasses has slight cracks. Their faces were close and Hermione could see the hazel specks through the green. She didn't realise she was staring until Harry gently pushed her aside before getting up.

"Well, we have our last horcrux."

Hermione nodded and stared at the diadem. It looked like any other object but she knew how much darkness it contained. She took out the basilisk's venom she had harvested and approached the diadem carefully.

She poured al the remaining venom and watched the diadem sizzle and howl. It tried to fight against the venom but it was a losing battle. Soon, the room was quiet. They had done it. They had destroyed all the horcruxes! Voldemort could be defeated now.

Hermione turned to Harry and with a laugh, she ran and threw her arms around him. He hugged her the moment she reached him. He pulled her close to him and looked at her intensely before bringing his lips down to hers.

Hermione gasped in surprise as she felt harry kiss her. It was so sudden but she still responded. This was the man who knew everything about her. He was her best friend and so much more. She didn't love him like she loved Sirius but it was enough. They both deserved it. Plus, they had only each other to depend on.

They held each other as Harry continued to kiss her along her neck and collarbone. Soon, their clothes came off. They laid on the cold hard floor as Harry raised her arms above. Her bare chest was pressed into his and she could feel his erection.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry asked her softly.

Hermione nodded and closed her eyes as she felt him enter her. She gasped as he moved. She could hear him grunt on top of her and opened her eyes to look at him. He was watching her face as he continued to move. Hermione gripped his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist. This changed the angle and caused Hermione to moan and he grazed her precious spot. Harry's thrusts got faster and soon they were coming.

They held each other in the aftermath. She had done it. She had sex with Harry Potter, her best friend. There were a lot of thoughts spinning through her head but she kept quiet.

"Hey, you alright?" Harry asked gently.

Hermione stared at his eyes. They were filled with love and respect. She knew her eyes probably expressed the same. She smiled and touched his cheek gently.

"Yes."

"Let's get out of her." Hermione nodded.

they stood up and dressed. Neither mentioned the big elephant in the room but it was alright for now. They had all the time in the world to talk and discuss things now. Their mission was over.

They walked out of the room before coming face to face with three wands pointed towards them.

Hermione gasped as she stared at the angry eyes of the man she loved. He was alive and looking at her like she was the enemy. It broke her heart to see the closed, suspicious look on him. There was no recognition, no smile welcoming her.

"Sirius ..."

She felt Harry grip her hand tightly and came to herself. The marauders. Of course they wouldn't be where the rest of the students were. They just had to come across them of all the people.

She looked at Harry and he was looking at James Potter. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were shuttered. They were both in shock.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I've never seen you here before."

"Just who the fuck are you?"

All three - Remus, James and Sirius spoke at the same time. Their accusations was too much for Hermione's already frayed heart and she burst out crying.

The three marauders looked befuddled before awkwardly apologising.

Harry and Hermione told them the same story they had told Dumbledore once everything had calmed down. They were back again in the room of requirements. This time, of course a different room.

After a few awkward moments filled with small talk and some more explanations, they parted.

* * *

Harry and Hermione couldn't go back so they had to make a life in this time period. They didn't attend Hogwarts even though neither had the opportunity to finish their seventh year in their time.

Time moved on. They both studied and applied for Newts and cleared it. They found jobs in Hogsmeade and bought a flat there. They met the marauders occasionally. After their initial bumpy meeting, they had begun to tolerate the two time travellers.

Neither Harry, nor Hermione were close to the marauders. It was too painful to be near them. Surprisingly they became good friends with the younger Severus. Because Voldemort was no longer immortal, he was defeated by Dumbledore and Severus never had to become a spy.

Lot of things changed and some remained the same.

Hermione realised that it felt good to see Sirius but she also acknowledged with a pang, that he was not the same man she had come to love. He had not gone through all the pain and betrayal. He was not the man who needed her to drown his sorrows. He was not her Sirius. More importantly she realised that she was finally over him. It was never meant to last and while a part of her would always love him, she realised that she was falling for her best friend.

She'd never realised how much she had grown to depend on Harry. They lived together and spend a lot of their time with each other. Slowly, Hermione had come to see him as a man. Oh she definitely remembered the time they had slept with each other. She had never regretted it but now there was another emotion attached to the memory. Hermione realised that she was blushing as she remembered it.

She had slowly become more aware of Harry. She was sure he had noticed her strange reactions whenever he was too close or when he would look at her with the same intense expression he had that day.

Hermione touched her chest. Her heart was beating rapidly. She blinked. It was as if someone had removed a filter. She could feel it now. Hermione Granger was quite possibly in love with Harry Potter!

"Hermione! Where are you? I brought the thing you asked me to and merlin was it hard to find ... Hermione?" Harry dropped his bad and rushed to her side.

She was standing in the middle of the room staring at her hand. Her cheeks were flushed and she was breathing fast.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked worriedly as he grabbed her arms gently.

Hermione eeped as Harry's face came closer. She blushed as she stared into his eyes. She couldn't help it. She closed her eyes and bit her lips.

"Hermione ..." Harry's voice had a slightly odd quality.

She opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring at her with a look she hadn't seen before. Slowly, almost in slow motion, he brought his face closer until their lips were mere centimetres apart. She stopped breathing as she felt his lips touch hers.

She gasped as he kissed her. It was slow and gentle at first but when Hermione simply melted in his arms, Harry growled and suddenly hauled her close and kissed her bruisingly. Hermione shivered as she felt Harry kiss her thoroughly. He kissed her so deeply that Hermione swore she could feel it all the way down to her toes.

"Harry! Wha-" Hermione moaned again as Harry sucked on her neck strongly.

"I love you Hermione. I've loved you as a woman for so long." He groaned as he hugged her tightly.

She could feel the tension in his arms. What, Harry loved her? Since when?

"You have no idea, do you? I was waiting until you got over Sirius. I didn't want to push you for anything but it was so hard, love." Harry said huskily.

"You're the one constant in my life and I don't know what I'd do without you."

Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and realised how much she had made the man in front of her suffer. He had been so patient while she dealt with her loss and she couldn't love him more.

She loved Harry. She loved him with all her might, all her being and she suddenly wanted him to know that,

"I love you too Harry." Hermione said fiercely.

"I love you, I love you so much." She held him close and whispered in his ears. She could feel him shudder in her arms and clutched him tighter.

This was it. She could feel it. It was another start for them. From now on, their lives would change and Hermione could hope for noting more. She couldn't wait to spend this lifetime and a thousand more with the man in her arms.

* * *

 **A/N -** This is it. Hope it wasn't rushed. Let me know your thoughts. :)

 **A/N (Edited)** \- I know it's slightly rushed and at times doesn't explain a few things properly but I still wanted to share this here as a one-shot. It probably would have worked bettie as a proper story with a few more chapters so that I could have gone into more details but right now, I barely have time to update TSL. So, for the time being, this will remain as a one-shot. Thank you all so much for reading, favouriting and reviewing it.


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